Israeli strike on Gaza school-turned-shelter kills at least 22 people

At least 119 people have been killed in the past 72 hours, according to the health ministry

Palestinians inspect a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza city after it was hit by an Israeli strike. Reuters

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An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza city's Al Zeitoun neighbourhood has killed at least 22 people, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday, as strikes across the enclave intensified.

Israel's strikes on Gaza have killed at least 119 people in the past 72 hours, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Saturday, excluding the latest toll from the attack on the school.

The Gaza government media office condemned the "horrific" attack on the school. "This horrific massacre comes as part of the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation, as the number of shelters bombed by the occupation reached 181 displacement and shelter centers," it said in a statement.

A separate strike hit Al Falah school in the same area, injuring a number of people. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hamas operatives in the school.

The Israeli military often accuses Hamas militants of hiding in schools where thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. The group has repeatedly denied this claim.

The death toll in the enclave since October 7 has risen to 41,391, while 95,760 have been wounded, the ministry said in its latest update. Over the past three days, 209 people were injured.

The ministry said that four of its workers were killed and six others injured in a strike on its warehouses in the area of Masbah in southern Gaza on Saturday, adding that ambulances cannot reach the site to recover the bodies or provide assistance for the injured.

Eight people were injured in a strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the agency said, while at least four Palestinians were killed in a strike on a group outside a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza on Saturday. Rescuers recovered their bodies and several injured people. Israeli artillery also struck houses east of Rafah city in southern Gaza on Saturday morning.

This latest war in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered last October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The war has displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies. Israel says it aims to eradicate the Iran-aligned Hamas, which it deems a threat to its own existence.